


Ficlet: Strong at the Broken Places (Cam/Lorne)

by rubygirl29



Category: Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-09-28
Updated: 2009-09-28
Packaged: 2017-10-18 10:20:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/187879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rubygirl29/pseuds/rubygirl29
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lorne is sent back to Earth for surgery on his broken leg.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ficlet: Strong at the Broken Places (Cam/Lorne)

Being in a schmoopy and h/c mood, I wrote this for the LJ non_mcsmooch site. For those days when you just need a good smooch that doesn't involve John/Rodney. They have their own smoochy site apparently.

 **Strong at the Broken Places**   
_Atlantis_

Jennifer Keller clipped an x-ray up to a lighted panel and gnawed at her lip. Her pretty face was concerned. She turned to her patient, Major Evan Lorne. He was drowsy from pain meds, and had visibly lost weight since his rescue from the rubble of Michael's collapsed research facility. Three weeks had passed, and he still wasn’t healing as well as she would have liked. Perhaps there were bacteria, either natural or manufactured by Michael, that had contaminated the compound fracture. It wouldn’t have surprised her. She shuddered, thinking of the past week. At least Lorne showed no sign of the infection that had nearly killed her and sent John to the infirmary for his second stay in two weeks.

Sheppard was being released, but he was standing at Lorne’s bedside, looking worried. “Why isn’t he getting better? It was just a broken leg, right?”

Keller rolled her eyes. “It was a nasty compound fracture that required surgery and debridement due to the contaminants in the wound. I’ve tried several antibiotics, but they’re not helping. I’d like to ask Mr. Woolsey to send him stateside for treatment. They have medicines and research at Stargate Command that might help. If he doesn’t get better, he could …” She bit her lip again, fell silent for a moment. “I’m sure they’ll help him.”

John gave her a slightly stricken look as her meaning hit home. “Woolsey will send him. I promise.” _Even if he had to hold a gun to his head,_ John thought. Lorne was more than his SiC, he was a good friend. John didn’t take losing friends lightly.

In the end, no violence was necessary. Woolsey readily agreed to the request. John, and more than a few of Atlantis’ military personnel were in the gate room when Lorne, on a gurney, went through the event horizon.

^*^*^*^*^*^*^

 _Cheyenne Mountain Complex, SGC_

Cam Mitchell had returned with SG-1 from another planet devastated by the Ori. This was getting old, he thought as he showered and changed into fresh BDUs. He was on his way to meet with the team for a debrief with General Landry when Carolyn Lam stopped him in the hallway. She looked worried and sympathetic, which made Cam nervous.

“What happened now?” he sighed.

“Colonel, I have a friend of yours in the infirmary. He’s been asking to see you.”

“A friend?”

“Major Evan Lorne.”

If Cam were less strong, less controlled, he would have staggered against the wall. Instead, he just looked at her and said softly. “He wouldn’t be here if it weren’t serious.”

“It’s serious, but treatable. Three weeks ago, he was on an operation when there was an accident. Major Lorne sustained a compound fracture of his left leg. Normally, the Atlantis medical team would have taken care of it, but there were extenuating factors.”

“Extenuating?” It was never a good word to use when you worked for Stargate Command. People turned into bugs, they were burned alive by the Ori, they had the life sucked out of them by Wraith … The list was a catalog of horrors. “How _extenuating_?” Cam’s voice was raw.

“He developed an infection from an unknown contaminant. I’ll be doing another surgery and trying a combination of antibiotics, but I thought you might like to see him before we put him under.”

“Yes. God, yes. Thank you.” He was off towards the infirmary before Carolyn could turn around.

^*^*^*^*^*^*^

Evan didn’t know which was worse: the boredom or the pain, which had become a nagging background to every other discomfort and indignity stays in the infirmary required. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d actually wanted to eat a meal, the last time he had slept without the aid of drugs, the last time the ceiling wasn’t the most interesting view overhead.

It wasn’t even as if Cam were here. Colonel Mitchell was off-world on assignment with SG-1, he’d been informed by one of the nurses. Evan was weak, in pain, and feeling so weary that part of him wanted to float away. It was the drugs, he told himself. He couldn’t even work up the proper amount of fear that if he didn’t get better, if he didn’t heal, he might lose his leg. He knew that was survivable. He knew it might not even be the end of his military career. But how would Cam feel? Cam … who was his lover as well as his friend? Evan grasped for the thread of the thought, but it eluded him as the drugs carried him away.

^*^*^*^*^*^*^

Cam shoved the curtain aside and stopped in his tracks. The semi-cheerful greeting he had composed on his way to the infirmary died on his lips. _God … Evan…_. They had waited three fucking weeks to bring him here, looking like _this_? He was thinner than Cam had ever seen him, drawn with pain and so pale that the smudge of his long, dark eyelashes looked like bruises on his skin.

Cam took Evan's hand in his. Damn DADT, he had a right to offer comfort to his lover, who also happened to be his closest friend. Evan had been there when Cam had needed him the most. He had always been at Cam's side with his wry humor and ready smile, and a strong arm when Cam had stumbled in his darkest hours. He owed Evan the same love that had healed him. He flicked the curtains shut and hooked his foot around the leg of a chair, bringing it to the bedside so he could sit with Evan. He raised his hand to his lips. The fingers were cool, and the bones felt fragile without the tensile strength Cam knew so well. He sighed and bowed his head.

“Are you just going to sit there and mope, or are you gonna get over here and kiss me?”

Cam looked up. Evan was watching him, smiling weakly, but enough to bring out the dimples at the corners of his mouth – the dimples that had so charmed Cam the first time he'd met Evan way back when they both had a lot less mileage on them. “Hey,” he said. “Nice to see you, too.” He leaned forward and brushed his lips lightly across Lorne's. “Even if you look like hell.” He felt Evan's hand drift over his shoulder to the nape of his neck. He tugged Cam down.

“What kind of bedside manner is that?” he whispered.

“The kind that says you're not up to more than a chaste kiss.”

“Right.” There was a glint of Lorne's fierce determination in his tired blue eyes. “Kiss me.”

Cam did. It was sweet and hopeful, warm lips over Lorne's cool ones, a brief, gentle exploration that made Cam's heart stutter in his chest. When they parted, Cam smoothed the hair back from Evan's forehead. “Better?”

“Mmm.” It was more of a sigh than an agreement. The drugs made him reckless. “Love you,” he murmured. His eyes closed, but his mouth was still soft; the creases of pain had eased. Cam stayed at his side until Dr. Lam came in with a hypodermic and two orderlies. She injected the drug into the IV drip. “He'll sleep now,” she said. “We'll take him into surgery in a few minutes.”

“How long will it take?”

“I don't know. It depends on what we find. Dr. Anthony is one of the finest orthopedic surgeons in the United States. Major Lorne is in good hands.” She looked up at Cam, her eyes sympathetic. “He's a good friend to you.”

“Yeah.” He looked away. “Can I have another minute?”

The orderlies had moved Evan to the gurney and covered him with heated blankets. Cam waited until they had left before he kissed Evan once again. “I'll be here when you wake up,” he said. Unspoken, he thought, _If there is strength in love, then you're the strongest man I know. ___

 _  
**The End**   
_


End file.
